Schumacher Surges to Maple Grove Final

U.S. Army Racing’s Brown and Pritchett Find Consistency in NHRA’s Countdown Opener 

It’s all about winning in the playoffs. The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ Countdown to the Championship gives its top-10 championship contenders some room for error, but not much.

The U.S. Army Racing trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett entered this weekend’s 34th annual Dodge NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania focused on winning the first of the six playoff events. All three won rounds Sunday, but unfortunately ran into one another on the elimination ladder. Schumacher carried the U.S. Army torch the farthest by reaching his fifth final of the 2018 season and 152nd of his career after ousting Brown in the semifinals, who one round earlier defeated Pritchett.

Schumacher, the eight-time Top Fuel world champion, began his quest for a sixth Dodge NHRA Nationals triumph with a victory over Dan Mercier in the first round with a pass of 3.816 seconds at 326.40 mph. The result earned the driver of the U.S. Army Dragster for DSR lane choice in his second-round matchup with Scott Palmer. Schumacher posted a lap of 3.827 seconds at 323.19 mph to defeat Palmer, who ran 3.833 seconds at 324.59 mph. The semifinal matchup between Schumacher and Brown was their third career race at Maple Grove. Schumacher left first with a 0.047-second reaction time and battled through dropped cylinders to post a winning run of 3.939 seconds at 292.96 mph to win over Brown, who hazed his tires just past the 330-foot marker. In the final, Steve Torrence moved

Schumacher to the left lane for the first time Sunday and cruised to victory when Schumacher lost traction just past the halfway point. Schumacher finished the day with a lap of 4.196 seconds at 234.82 mph, but his run to the final moved him into a second-place tie in the championship standings with Clay Millican.

“We got a lot better here this weekend and I’m happy about that,” said Schumacher following his fifth final appearance of the season. “We’ve got a really good U.S. Army car right now. We still have some changes to make, but we are close. We were absolutely terrible in Indy. To come here and qualify number two and then make good runs down the track all weekend is exactly what had to happen. In the final against Torrence, we were very aggressive in our approach. There’s a bump out there that goes across the track. We struggle with that one area, but a lot of cars did. We won some rounds today and leave here tied for second in the points. It’s time for a battle. We have five races to go. Those will all be monster battles coming up with extremely good cars. It’s time for the fans to show up. The drivers to show up. The teams to show up and the game to be played. I love it.”

Brown, a two-time Dodge NHRA Nationals winner, was part of the seventh pair to race in Sunday’s first round pitting the two most recent Top Fuel world champions. The driver of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster got the starting line advantage over Brittany Force and never trailed. His 3.800-second pass at 327.35 mph defeated the reigning world champion’s run 4.124 seconds at 288.27 mph and advanced him to the second round, where he would face Pritchett. Brown posted another consistent lap of 3.840 seconds at 313.51 mph to defeat Pritchett, who suffered a late-run explosion in the right lane. The win for Brown was the 700th career round victory during his NHRA career. He’ll have to wait until next Sunday in St. Louis to earn number 701 after falling to Schumacher in the semifinals.

“This Countdown is rough, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” said Brown. “It was a tough road today having to race both of my teammates, but you have to beat everybody to win in the Countdown. That’s what our team has always thrived on. Today was a great start to the Countdown for us, any time you can kick off the Countdown in the top four it’s a plus. This race track was really tricky. We just need to get a couple of things leveled out. Now we’re going to keep pushing hard and get ready for St. Louis. If we keep doing what we’re doing, I think we’re going to be in the right spot. We have five races left, so we’re definitely still in it. I’m very excited to get down to Gateway. It’s always been a great racetrack for us. We’ll come out swinging.”

Pritchett started Sunday from the third position and defeated Audrey Worm with a run of 3.786 seconds at 323.50 mph aboard the Mopar Dodge 1320/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR. She had lane choice in round two and left first on Brown, but quickly lost traction before her machine exploded just as she crossed the finish line. Pritchett remains fourth in the Countdown standings.

“There’s definitely more positives than negatives, and all of that shows in our data,” said Pritchett. “We’re going to have more momentum heading into St. Louis than we did coming here. That creates a lot of confidence for us. A mechanical gremlin caused us to smoke the tires (in round two), and on race day, you pedal and leg it out and try and make it to the finish line first and that didn’t happen second round. But, I’m feeling better as a driver. We’re just five days away from doing it all over again. Right back into it is exactly where I want to be. This is my third Countdown opportunity and it takes every single thing out of you, to do what we do at this professional level. We’ve been preparing for this all year long and it’s time to see who can stand out during this last sprint of the marathon.”

With the first of six NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship events complete, the top-10 drivers in the Top Fuel standings are:

1.Steve Torrence (2,219 points)

2. Tony Schumacher (2,169 Points, -50)
Clay Millican (2,169 points, -50)

4. Leah Pritchett (2,118 points, -101)

5. Antron Brown (2,116 points, -103)

7. Doug Kalitta (2,103 points, – 116)

8. Terry McMillen (2,062 points, -157)

9. Scott Palmer (2,053 points, -166)

10. Brittany Force (2,052 points, -167)

The 2018 playoffs resume next weekend with the Seventh annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois. FS1 will broadcast elimination rounds Sunday, September 24, live staring at 2 p.m. EDT.